444 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
ably occurring locally throughout New England. It is most 
common, often abundant, in wet, sedgy meadows along brooks 
and rivers, and in swamps and bogs where water stands upon the 
ground for days at a time. This open habitat is its preferred 
and characteristic environment whether at sea-level or above 
timber-Hne on the sedgy plateau of Mt. Katahdin, Me.; but, as 
should be expected, it also occurs in swamps among low trees 
and bushes, which are simply open areas on which the forest is 
encroaching. 
It is a shy and alert species, the males being especially active 
and wide-awake, often starting up at a distance of several yards. 
They take wing suddenly and rise rapidly into a swift, powerful, 
and sustained flight which is often prolonged for one or two 
hundred feet in a straight, slightly ascending, then gradually 
descending course. The females are more sluggish, much more 
reluctant to rise, and hardly one is observed to a score or two of 
males. Sometimes, alarmed by the footsteps of an intruder, 
they climb up on the grass stems and may be seen previous to 
their taking flight. 
This Locust has been taken from extreme northern and 
eastern Maine to southern Connecticut, and at various altitudes 
up to 4700 feet on Mt. Katahdin. Outside of New England it 
has been recorded from New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, 
and eastern Nebraska. 
Adults may be looked for from the middle of July during the 
rest, of the season, captures having been made from July 21 to 
October 6. 
Northern Sedge-locust. 
Mecostethus gracilis (Scudder). ' 
Plate 20, fig. 24. 
Arcyptera gracilis Scudder, Boston Jonrn. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, p. 463 (1862). 
Mecostethus gracilis Morse, Psyche, vol. 7, p. 444 (1896). 
Vertex with lateral margins less elevated than in M. lineatus; 
lateral foveolae nearly obsolete in both sexes. Pronotum with 
hind margin but little produced. Subgenital plate of male less 
prolonged than in M. lineatus, about twice as long as deep. 
Ovipositor with base of valves broader, much like M. platypterus, 
